Is any one familiar with any competitive shooting, in which the shooters would all compete with IDENTICAL guns.....so it would be very much like the IROC racing for drivers from all different niches in motorsports ? I mean IDENTICAL , UNMESSED-WITH guns. Consecutive serial numbers would even be better...just to stress that the shooters would all be using the same thing.
I imagine this would never be too popular, knowing how much us gun-lovers like to "trick-out" our different weapons.
What would be really neat is if the top guys from all the different SHOOTING sports (benchrest, high power, 1000 yds, IR50/50, IDPA, sillouette, running target, trap, skeet, cowboy action, etc...) and have them compete in a straight-up 3-gun contest.....with IDENTICAL guns. What do you think??
I also think it would be nice from a novices point of veiw....as the focus would be on learning good shooting fundamentals, not whatever latest technological breakthru a person could do to/ hang off of their gun.
It is so easy to be pulled in by claims of accuracy increases when it is as simple as putting a 1000 round case of ammution thru our guns......anyhow, that's the angle I was gettin' at......

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It is better to be a "human-doing" than a "human-being"..

I like the idea.
But even better, since they don't all have to shoot at the same time, why not THE SAME GUN for all?
Of course it would be a different gun for each stage of the compitition. There would have to be a back up gun for each in case of a failure of some sort.

.....in instances where, to be competitive one needs to pour untold fundage into a weapon to be on par with others.
The pinacle of each Shooting sport is generally occupied by those who have the "wherewithall" to buy the best equipment.
The instances that the worst equipped competitor wins would be few and far between...if ever.
In a SAME GUN contest, it truely would be just the SHOOTER....and there would be no question about equipment.

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It is better to be a "human-doing" than a "human-being"..

The IROC angle is interesting. To a degree that is what has happened with the abundance of divisions/classes/sports in the shooting disciplines. You if you don't compete "up" in division (i.e. "limited 10" gun in "open" or "service rifle" in a "benchrest" match), you do compete with nominally the same equipment.

There have been attempts to run an "overall" match or championship. The games are never truely discipline neutral. Think about the Masters or something like the Sprotsman Challenge. It is doubtful you'd ever find a large enough cross over in the competitors to make a definitive statement (shotgunners shooting a Palma match).

When it comes down to it, WESHOOT2 has it correct, it's the shooter not the gear. The best shooters are still the best the order may change around in the top 20 but that's about it. Think about the times Rob Letham has put away the space guns, picked up an iron sight boom stick and smoked a major match.

That being said I enjoy shooting against people of my skill level with my class of equipment. Not that I don't watch the scores of those "above" me

.....those instances are few and far between.
Been to a Benchrest match lately? I guaranty that the winner was not shooting a "stock" rifle......same goes for an IR 50/50 match. Matter of fact, IR 50/50 is the sport I was interested in trying....but a local competitor/ gunsmith told me my Ruger 10/22 Target would definitely NOT be competitive with the Winchester 52s and the Anschutz 64s......guess how much further up the "food-chain" a guy has to be to even entertain thoughts of owning a "competitive" rifle. Maybe ISPC is ONE type of shooting that equipment doesn't matter....but what about ALL the other types of shooting sports....i.e; when's the last time someone won the Grand American World Trap Championships with an H&R Topper? Or a NBRSA contest with a factory varmint rifle?
99% of the time it's the folks with the deepest pockets who are in the Competitive top 1%. You'll not be convincing me otherwise, sighting only single instances where the opposite has been the case.

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It is better to be a "human-doing" than a "human-being"..

We will have to agree to disagree on the equipment/shooter discussion. Different experiences lead to different conclusions. It is my belief that I could switch gear with Tony Boyer (leaving him with a .3-.4 rifle) and he would still obliterate me at 1000yds. Hand Tubbs a iron sighted Service Rifle and let me run a Any Sight Match Rifle, I would be humbled as well. I have had a few lessons such as this taught to me by lesser known competitors.

I'll submit: If a person can drop down behind a competitve BR gun and run <.2 aggs but can only afford a stock varminter. Or fire 595/600 at will given a Hammer free pistol but 530/600 is it with an Ruger Mk2 then that person is at a financial disadvantage.

The largest $$$ advantage I see is in practice time, ammo and instruction. Which one of couldn't vastly improve by taking a week off and getting some world class instruction with unlimited ammo in our given discipline?

This response is to "wrongo". While we'll agree that skill is paramount, it's been my experience that two evenly matched competitors using an open gun vs. a limited/production/ESP... the open gun wins hands down. This being due to a number of factors like Compensators, higher magazine capacities etc.

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